Wheat, Barley Farmers Back Canadian Wheat Board Monopoly

A majority of wheat farmers in Canada's western prairies supports continuing a monopoly over their crop, according to results of an nonbinding vote released Monday.

Sixty-two percent of wheat farmers voting backed the Canadian Wheat Board, which for 70 years has been the only seller of wheat and barley grown in the western provinces. Barley farmers also backed the board, but by a smaller margin, with 51% of respondents voting in favor of keeping the monopoly. More than 49,000 votes were cast in the plebiscite.

Results of the vote commissioned by the board come as it fights for its future. Canada's Conservative Party captured a parliamentary majority this past spring and plans to pass legislation stripping the board of its monopoly power.

Members of the majority government have said they will push ahead with plans to eliminate the wheat board's monopoly regardless of the vote. Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz in a statement Friday dismissed the plebiscite as an expensive survey, saying it doesn't "trump the individual right of farmers to market their own grain."

Ritz has said he expects legislation eliminating the board's monopoly power to be introduced this fall, with passage possible by the end of the year. The left-leaning New Democratic Party is expected to challenge the legislation, with Pat Martin, a New Democratic Party legislator, saying the government has yet to produce any evidence that farmers would be better off without the board.

"This is nothing more than an ideological crusade," Martin said.

Those who oppose the board's monopoly say farmers could capture better returns by having the freedom to market their own crops. However, supporters of the board say its control over western Canada's crop gives it considerable power in global commodity markets to ensure farmers there get the best prices.

An end to the wheat board's monopoly is likely to ripple through agriculture in North America. Commodity exchanges anticipate that Canadian farmers will turn to futures markets if the wheat board goes away, and they and grain handlers already are jockeying for the expected new business. The change also would affect wheat prices, potentially making them more volatile.

The board hired MNP LLP, a Canadian accounting firm, to conduct the vote. Results were originally scheduled for release Friday.

-By Mark Peters, Dow Jones Newswires, 312-750-4141; mark.peters@dowjones.com

(Paul Vieira in Ottawa contributed to this report.)

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